It's that time again.

>>1728579
Good to see you again. Been working on some range and artillery load outs for the Dutchman and Jager which could be set up for our various med and heavy strikers. Calling the artillery weapons the Little Boy and Fat Man.

Is it just me or do these threads feel...quieter...over the past month or two?

>>1728643
Kind of.

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“Sir Wesker...you've done an impressive job, Turpin is probably having a tantrum right now, but you don't have to go down there alone. The prison colony is ours, it's just a matter of landing our troops.” More fire streaks the sky, raising explosions on the hull of the fleeing Pangassius. It dives for the atmosphere like a whale retreating into the deeps, sinking deep into the clouds of Titan.

...Thinking about the whales makes your stomach clench. The Cetacean Restoration Project was something you and Naomi were planning to go see. You finally had some vacation time coming up, and even if you pretended not to know about it you know she'd ordered a new dress. Every time you think you're finally alright, you remember her cocky smile, her jokes. Perhaps it's not the proudest thing to admit she took care of you a little, that she was the confident one who always seemed to have things together, but it's true. It's true and you miss her. Even if the Countess is gorgeous and uncommonly friendly, there's a wall of glass between you and her, emotionally speaking. Not just a distance of station between master and servant, but the same awkwardness you've always had when being friendly to others, especially girls. With Naomi, that distance was never there, from the moment she approached you the connection was drawn, a solid target lockon that oriented the two of you towards each other. It's a dorky analogy even for you, but that's how it feels.

You activate your thrusters and smear the goo covering your armor into the cuts the enemy weapons dug into your armor.

“...Sir Wesker, did you hear me? I said you don't have to go alone.” The Countess repeats.

“No, but I do have to go down first.” You reply, “Unless, of course, that is an order to wait.” You finally understand, now. It wasn't bravery that drove Admiral Starwind, now Pirate King Roarke, to invade Mars with an unarmed transport ship and a handful of mecha. It was necessity. He was pulled there, as if by a magnet, the same way that you find yourself pulled towards Titan. It's one more step towards reaching Naomi.

“No, it isn't an order, but...why? You've already done more than enough.” The Countess questions.

[Continued]

>>1728643
Timezones fuck me up.

>>1728643
Hard for me to tell, honestly. We seem to get a bunch of people once the action starts, just not right from the start.

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“Because I have someone to protect, and the only way I can do that is to be as strong as I can be. Fight as hard as I can fight. Get as many points as I can get. Win as much respect as I can win.” You know those words might be unwise later, but she deserves to hear them.

“I see. Go, then, Sir Wesker. Prepare my arrival upon the moon's surface. By my order, serve as our vanguard. Glory to Avalon!” Her voice sounds just slightly strained, but you think she might be smiling, “This person, I hope they know how lucky they are to have you protecting them. If...if they ever forget, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive that insult.”

You try to think of some proper words of response, but all that comes out is, “T-thanks. You too.”

“Sir Wesker, that's a non-sequitor.” She sounds exasperated, “I'll assume you're just promising to challenge anyone who offends me.”

“Sure.” You plot your course to avoid burning up in the atmosphere, watching the Avalonian ships approach the colony as you begin a long, arching path rather than a straight drop. You've never done a planetfall before, you heard this technology was supposed to be experimental, and you can't imagine it's going to be less than rough.

...You were right. You were so awfully, awfully right.

You're lucky your comms are off, because when gravity grabs you by the stomach and yanks downward, you make a sort of squealing screaming squawk you aren't at all proud of. The nitrogenous clouds block out your vision as if you were descending into the bowels of mythological abyss, swirling and churning.

[Continued]

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You know that Titan receives about 1% of the sunlight Earth's surface does (an amount approximately replicated via artificial means on a Jovian colony). You don't know this from the Academy, but as a result of your own pre-mission research and study. The Academy teaches mostly practical skills. In ancient times, it's said that academic institutions served mostly to provide a cushy place for ideologues and theorycrafters to avoid meaningful work, and that scholarship was both mandatory for civilized youths and bloated to the brim with useless information, busywork, and propaganda for the fashionable subversions of the era. The Academy is no such place, run by the military and Jovian government to produce the next generation of soldiers for the UJCIDF. The last time there was an anti-war protest on its grounds the students were instructed to treat it as a drill in nonlethal dispersion and arrest tactics and let loose on the protestors with stun batons. You picked up the habit of studying the places you're going before you go there at the Academy, though, so perhaps you could tangentially at least attribute your knowledge to that venerable institution.

The point is, Titan is dark. Dark and cold. You fall into a hell more terrifying than the burning pits of the Catholic Lord, but you are wearing your peerless armor and you still have your lance. Furthermore, the Swordfish's advanced sensors are more than enough to pierce through the dark, lighting up the terrain below in faerie colors of blue and green on your screens. It would almost be pretty if you weren't being rattled around like a pea in a tin can that two giants are playing catch with. Even when the heat of reentry makes smoke rise from the coating of your mech, the temperature is nowhere as bad as the rattling is. You'd want to puke if you thought even remotely it might help. Even when the smoke becomes fire, you're not distracted from how uncomfortable it is.

[Continued]

>>1728643
I mean the only reason I can think of is just that people want to go back to being Roarke full time. I mean we had the tourney for months and Caesar and Roarke threads breaking it up, and it always feels like more people when we play Roarke.

>>1728690
Hang on, need some game music for our glorious burning entrance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKu6ErY_5mY

Probably because the threads are getting further apart and the updates are getting lost in between shitposting and Thunder's murderboner shitposting.

In fact, Im transferred to another department so I myself cant post for now

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Rolled 8 + 5 (1d10 + 5)

Normally you would land at a great distance and move in low to the surface to try and avoid the remaining ship's sensors by fouling its readings, but there isn't much point with the damaged ship preceding you, they'll know what's coming. You set your arc to avoid the work camp by enough of a margin to keep you safe from any anti-air weaponry they have without requiring a massive overland trek.

Calling it a work camp might have been a mistake. Just from what your sensors tell you as you descend towards the icy Xanadu region of Titan, it's more like a fortress. You can't actually tell, but you're sure that you see turrets swiveling towards you even if you never enter their range.

Huge parachutes unfold from within cocoons within the goo that burn away with the friction of reentry. Spreading behind you, they catch the murky air and slow your descent from a breakneck pace to merely very fast. Jets of mist from other, smaller cocoons of machinery put out the fires, wrapping you in smoke.

You must look absolutely terrifying right now.

Below, you see a cluster of Bluegills huddled around what appears to be an attempt at jury-rigging some kind of communications antenna atop a high pinnacle of ice. Your sensors aren't detecting any signal from it yet. Nine targets, their heads outfitted with big spotlights that cast dim cones of radiance through the incessant murk. Three squads. The mountain they're on glitters with ice and twisted crystal formations like deformed trees, casting eldritch reflections from their luminators as they all look upwards at your descending mass.

Your tentacles sever the used-up parachute, the last of the reentry coating burning away as you drop onto them like a bomb.

>[Roll 1d10+5]

Rolled 4 + 5 (1d10 + 5)

>>1728758
TRUE TO CAESAR

Rolled 6 + 5 (1d10 + 5)

>>1728758

Rolled 10 + 5 (1d10 + 5)

>>1728758

Rolled 3 + 5 (1d10 + 5)

>>1728758

Feed me...1d10+13s. I'll add the +2 in manually for your attacks.

>>1728775
damnit Thunder, save the 10s for the murder orgies.

Rolled 3 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728790

Rolled 5 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728790

Rolled 6 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728790

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728790
roger.

Rolled 5, 2, 10 = 17 (3d10)

>>1728796
>>1728797
>>1728804

Rolled 3 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728818
I guess you need more dice

Rolled 9 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728818

>>1728818
Oh, and do not forget the automatic attack from our tendril if it's still applicable. Cutting down the numbers is always good.

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728790
I have found myself considerably busier on the nights you run lately than I would like

Still there Wong?

Rolled 9, 6, 10 = 25 (3d10)

>>1728813
>>1728826
>>1728848

Technical difficulties, need a few more dice.

>>1728946

Rolled 5 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728946

Rolled 7 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728946

Rolled 9 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1728946

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>1728946

Rolled 2, 3, 9 = 14 (3d10)

>>1728912
>>1728967
>>1728972

One parry versus 21, one parry versus 20, one parry versus 17.

>>1728973

Successful parry versus 21

>>1728974

Successful parry versus 20

One more, 1d10+13 versus 17. Keep giving me 1d10+13s, though, because after that parry is resolved it's your turn to attack. The enemy each only got one because they're either ducking back to attack you with rockets or flying up into your face to swing on you and try to keep you away from the communications antenna.

Rolled 5 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729003

Rolled 9 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729003

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729003

Rolled 6 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729003
Aye aye, let's go fishing.

Rolled 10, 4, 8 = 22 (3d10)

>>1729026
>>1729034
>>1729035

Two more. Thunderbolt got a successful parry, so you're unharmed.

>>1729003
and another one if we need it. How far away is the array anyways? Is it in crazy beam tentacle range?

Rolled 9 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729068

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729069
If I can role my dice right..

Rolled 1, 8 = 9 (2d10)

>>1729068

One is impossible for them to parry, the others are parrying against 16 and 21

Rolled 4, 8 = 12 (2d10)

>>1729072
>>1729073

>>1729081
bad day to be a bluegill. They are becoming the new harpy.

4/9 targets destroyed. Prepare for incoming fire and feed me more 1d10+13s. Ten attacks incoming

Rolled 8 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092
Aye aye.

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092

Rolled 8 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729092

Long time lurker, first time poster. How do I roll plz?!

Rolled 10, 10, 6, 9, 10, 5 = 50 (6d10)

>>1729102
>>1729103
>>1729120
>>1729124
>>1729131
>>1729135

Four more!

>>1729144

Type "dice+1d10+13" into the options window when you go to reply.

Rolled 3 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729162
Jeez this bluegills are fighting real hard.

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729162
Salute

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729162
...dice pls, going to suggest putting some mv into our 10 parries so we can at least prevent a crit.

>>1729183
DICE PLEASE

Rolled 6 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729162

Rolled 6, 4, 6, 3 = 19 (4d10)

>>1729162

Parries versus 21, 20, and 21. These guys are rolling remarkably well and you are rolling remarkably badly.

>>1729170
>>1729176
>>1729183
>>1729191

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729199
Caesar ain't doing so good here.

>>1729199

Alright, and two parries versus 17. Why so many 1s today?

Rolled 10 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729203
I have no idea. Sticking with the +1 for the parry though.

Rolled 8 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729199

>>1729202
>>1729220
>>1729227

Two successful parries, one unsuccessful parry that averted a crit, and two more needed.

Should we break out some luck or save it for later?

Rolled 1 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729233

Rolled 4 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729233
right, +1 Mv.

>>1729235
Probably save it, who knows how hard the warden is going to be if this is just a team of their bluegills.

>>1729237
fuck

>>1729241
Maneuver pool refreshes per fight though. So long as we don't go over it, we get our pool of 3 back after this.

Rolled 6 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729233

>>1729233

Is the armband still ok?

>>1729249
So long as the arm is attached it is.

Rolled 2 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

Here you go

Rolled 10 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729267
We are having no real luck tonight.

Rolled 8 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

>>1729233
Praise be to MSPQ. I missed you.

How's the hand, Wong?

Rolled 10, 5 = 15 (2d10)

>>1729277
What the fuck? Are we fighting Dave from Engineering's family?

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>1729277

Better than Fairchild's I'm sure.

>>1729277
>>1729282

Ignore these, I forgot which fuckers were melee and which were range.

>>1729282
Da.

Fuq.

>>1729282
..our armor is thick enough to not have to worry about that, right?

>>1728643
In general I've always been a lurker unless I have something to comment on, or the vote ends up getting really contested.

It doesn't help that my job has been letting us out late for the past year or so, so I always end up missing the first three or so hours.

>>1729285

...Nope, wait, that guy was a rocketeer. However, your powerplant gets armor protection and thus you just get -1 SP to the torso.

>>1729293
Wew.

Rolled 7 + 13 (1d10 + 13)

Cue the music! We need all the musics!

>>1729282
Forgot to link post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCmTJVew_tY&

You do get dinged REPEATEDLY because each of those guys used three rockets on you.

-1 SP torso (7 remaining), -1 SP head (7 remaining), -1 SP torso (6 remaining), -1 SP right arm (6 remaining), -1 SP torso (5 remaining), -1 SP torso (4 remaining).

>>1729311

Damn ding dongs.

Rolled 2, 9, 3, 1, 4 = 19 (5d10)

>>1729248
>>1729267
>>1729270
>>1729274
>>1729300

>>1728643
It's a lack of Brazilanon too.

>>1729311
Damn, our torso is getting fucked.

>>1729327
Dem missiles, mang.

>>1728690
>academic institutions served mostly to provide a cushy place for ideologues and theorycrafters to avoid meaningful work, and that scholarship was both mandatory for civilized youths and bloated to the brim with useless information, busywork, and propaganda for the fashionable subversions of the era. The Academy is no such place, run by the military and Jovian government to produce the next generation of soldiers for the UJCIDF. The last time there was an anti-war protest on its grounds the students were instructed to treat it as a drill in nonlethal dispersion and arrest tactics and let loose on the protestors with stun batons.

Your bias is showing Wong.

>>1728643
Last thread was pretty dead because of all the rolling.

>>1729348
Caesar is wong on pol

>>1729348
let's be fair, when the last war took out 2/3rds of humanity and required the law makers to write down NEW war crimes that can be commited, you'd become pretty militant yourself.

>>1729348
Can't be too peaceful when you got Ayy lmaos trying to wipe out your species.

>>1729371
Think they'll add "the box" to the list?

>>1729311

Actually, 5 remaining for the torso, the one that did half damage wouldn't be able to penetrate your Beta armor.

>>1729380
It's a part of it's name so I would assume yes. It's like a mix of napalm, thermite, and white phosphorous.

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>>1729390
>Thermite

>>1729390
True, but look at Newk's toda true, but look at Nuke's today. They still aren't considered a war crime just heavily frowned upon because no one wants to get into a nuke War.

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>>1729398

Do we need to roll still? We are still in combat

>>1729408
Why do I feel like you we're dying for a chance to use that image?

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They move with a bit more precision than the ones up above, and scarce wonder. Their Bluegills have dents and scars a fresh, new coat of silver-grey paint hasn't managed to erase completely, and different unit markings. Four of them fly up towards you immediately, spreading out to swing at you with swords and maces, while the remaining five jet backwards and bring their rockets to bear. Fireworks seldom seen in the murky mists of Titan leave contrails of glowing white that crisscross like a net, but you don't get distracted by the barrage. You dodge, juke, cut momentum and kick off the head of a Bluegill that swings a moment too early, your beam tentacles and the web of light between them encircling you like a cloak from your left shoulder to ward off a sword, mace, and rocket barrage that get a bit too close for comfort. Then it's your turn.

You sweep your whirring drill-lance in an arc, the four Bluegills foolish enough to engage you in close range practically disintegrating, although you see the cockpit balls fly free. Your tentacles lash out, but the one you're aiming at throws itself flat into the methane crystals and barely avoids your assault. The remaining five open fire on you with their remaining rockets, with a haste that suggests fear. They might be veterans, but they're not the sort of elites you've trained with.

You manage to dodge some, and block others, but at least six rockets score your armor. They seem to be focusing on the chest, aiming for a killshot...which is fair, because you're aiming for the torso too. They seem to have realized that tapping eject the moment they realize they can't stop you is keeping them alive. The Swordfish's chestplate looks almost fuzzy from how tattered it is, but the powerful armor keeps the circuits and frame beneath at 100% functionality...even if you nearly have a heart attack when one tags your power plant. You emerge from the smoke with a baleful howl of tortured metal, lance skewering one of your attackers. A flurry of stabs and a grab of your tentacle that bisects a straggler, and you're facing down a single Bluegill. It has officer's markings on its shoulder pauldron, and it's also the one that tagged your power plant.

Much to your surprise, it hails you. A gruff, masculine voice, a few years short of middle age, greets your ears, “Guess I'm not the Blue Knight. So which of the Paladins are you, and what do you want? Why haven't you been killing us?”

[Continued]

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“Who says I'm a Paladin?” You reply, leveling your lance at him, “I want information about your base. What is this? There's supposed to be a basic mine here, not a castle. Those are anti-mech turrets, what kind of trouble could you be expecting this far from the Belt or the front lines?”

He chuckles, his Bluegill shaking its bucket-like head, “I hate to disillusion you, but unlike your people, mine aren't knights. We'll do whatever we have to do to win this war, and if the General's plan to use your own troops against you saves the lives of my men...well...better that than what she did on Paley's World.”

“Against us? What? Hostages? That doesn't work, Avalonians don't think that way, there's that whole death-before-dishonor ethos that's been...” Your voice trails off as the Bluegill pilot starts laughing.

“You're not even one of them, are you!? By Jove, that's a Europan accent...so it's true, I guess some of the pirates really aren't marching to Admiral Starwind's fife. Or maybe you're a deserter from the military. I can't judge, I knew a few folks from my own unit on Qu'lir whose 'gills supposedly crashed at the edges of the last battle, only no bodies were ever retrieved. I always liked to think they found a nice little place in the jungle for themselves, learned to be lizard farmers or fishermen or guides for tourists...but to think, someone from our system, siding with Avalon.” He sounds disgusted, “Why?”

“Because there's something only I can do, and I can only do it here.” You respond, “You didn't answer my question. Talk!”

He shrugs, “Or what? You'll pretend you're about to frag ejected pods? I don't believe you. This whole thing stinks like a Martian opossum that died in an air recirculator vent. If we didn't have short-wave confirmation of incoming Avalonian ships from the guardsats, I'd believe you were SOUL and this was some kind of internal affairs op aimed at the General. Still, there's no point in hiding it from you. No, not hostages. We're just giving the slaves of the Green Man a taste of their own medicine.” His Bluegill looks skyward, into the swirling black, “This place...it eats away at a man. They say Titan is one of the least hostile places for life in our Solar System that hasn't already been terraformed. It's got an atmosphere, it's bigger than damned Mercury, and it's even got weather...but it's hell. Methane oceans, nitrogen skies, gravity so light that there's mandatory exercise regimens the moment our shifts switch with the rookies and we get sent to the colony instead of the surface. That's human life in a nutshell, struggling against the insurmountable."

[Continued]

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>>1729434

>>1729472
Oh man, this is some borderline treason. Caesar better tell Roarke about this shit.

>>1729472
Oh boy.. how exactly would this look on Fairchild's plate when this revealed?

>>1729472
So, Slave Wraith?

>>1729491
I'm sure we can burst a transmission openly before we leave sol.

As an avalonian knight, we have no reason to even try to not embarrass the jovians.

>>1729434
I was. I thought you'd Never See It Coming.

>>1729516
Was that your last surprise?

>>1729518
Nope. You'll be surprised how much your life will change.

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You nonchalantly slice down the makeshift and clearly uncompleted comms antenna with your tentacles while he's talking.

He doesn't seem to mind, and spreads his arms wide, “We beat Titan. Just like we beat space. Even without terraforming, the gift of the Green Men, we survived and accomplished amazing things. My dad fought in the War, you know? Right near the end. He was discharged early, because he got spored. I was barely old enough to remember it, seeing him twitch and thrash and scream in the hospital bed before...before they gave him mercy. I don't feel an ounce of sympathy for what the warden is doing to those people, it's the same as what their god would do for us, given the chance. Maybe it's just Titan talking, but...I think there's justice in it. Maybe the General's finally atoning for her sins on Paley's World, but I doubt it. For her, this is just about power, the same as it always is.”

Rain starts to fall, and he holds his hand up, catching it in his palm, “You see that? Just like back home, isn't it? Only...this stuff is almost gasoline. If oxygen wasn't so scarce here, it would be really dangerous. What a fucked up place. Humans truly are amazing for being able to dig our feet in here.”

...You know what's going on. You know exactly what's going on. You're too smart NOT to know what's going on. “What you're planning is evil.” You remember Galbadie, and his mind-linked crew.

“I'm not planning it, kid, I'm just a soldier following orders.” The Bluegill wipes its hands off.

“How is it any better than what the Green Men did to your dad?” You riposte. It's difficult, because at heart, you're a Jovian and loyal to Jovian ideals and want to see Avalon lose, too.

“It's not about who can polish their soul to shine brighter at the end of the day. It's about making sure the bastards don't come any closer to destroying our civilization.” He points at you, “This is about Jupiter. This is about the flame of a human culture that values reason and enlightenment, one stretching back thousands of years. This is about mankind itself, and protecting it!”

[Continued]

>>1729553
they planning to blow up Titan? or at least the prison?

Theres no going back to jupiter after this.

>>1729563
Mind controlling Avalonians via HMIS rigs to fight for the SSL.

That's pretty evil.

>>1729553
Just kill him and get going.

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You tilt your mech's head to one side, “Are you just venting or not? I don't believe you're just telling me this for no reason. What are you building up to?” You still wish you could dialogue-skip in real life, “If you were covering for those other two patrols that flew back to base when I eliminated your unit, it was a waste of time, they were out of my range anyway. There's no point in stalling when we both know I have reinforcements too.”

“...Maybe I wanted to wait until the others were out of communication range completely before I said anything damning, kid. Listen, I know you're not going to tell me everything, but on the off chance you ARE SOUL or something, because you don't exactly strike me as a pirate, there's something I need to tell you, because if it goes as bad as I think it will I want it clear that aside from maybe the Warden none of the troops here had anything to do with it. Officially we don't even know about the damned headbands. If you're just a deserter who switched sides, well, maybe I'm hoping you'll remember why Jupiter is worth fighting for.” He sighs, “The General already mustered out a unit of the prisoners. None of the aces, I think she wanted to hang on to them for an emergency, but a group of strong pilots and their mecha. They were loaded onto a bulk cargo hauler...” He transmits you a picture of a large cargo ship, about as big as civilian models ever get, unarmed but with a lot of storage room, “...under the name of Rainy Morning. I don't know where it was going.”

“I know someone who might. Thank you.” You look around, then up, where your sensors detect another mecha-sized object dropping down towards you, “...You should gather your comrades and find some cover. Things are going to get messy.”

“Things already are messy, but thanks for that. Tell those fuckers overhead, though, if they try to take us prisoner we'll die before we let them spore us.” He promises, swapping his rocket launcher for an epoxy cannon and setting to work webbing the eight cockpit balls into one gooey bindle he can carry.

“That's not their goal. Leaving you behind delays a pursuit, they know the UJCIDF will rescue their own.” You reassure him.

“Let's hope so.” The pilot slings the bundle of webbing over his mech's shoulders, making it resemble some bent-backed old peasant woman carrying a huge bundle on her back, igniting his thrusters for support as he flies away.

Next, you contact the descending Countess.

[Continued]

>>1729553
And so he decides that the best way to do that is to throw away his humanity. Fairchild knows hows to pick them.
>>1729563
Think for a moment. Who likely has the most access to the green man circlets who is still alive. Who tried to use a paladin for said things? They want to pull a green man by circleting any knight they capture.
>>1729567
At least while Fairchild has power. How much has she messed up in the last 48 hours?

>>1729553

Fucking Nazis man. He'd see Jove handed off to someone just as bad as the Green Men so that he could pretend his desperate crime was for a purpose, like that somehow makes it okay.

His Dad did a shit job if that's what he raised his son to be like.

>>1729552
Just post lewd Persona 5 characters already.

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>>1729589
Oh boy, Can Do!

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>>1729589

>>1729577
Whoo boy. I can see the next Fairchild plan. 'Bunch of circlet wearing knights try to screw over auditorium! Blame it on them!'

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>>1729589
>Pic related

>>1729599
Don't post Makoto like that!

>>1729599
Now those are some nice dubs

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>>1729614
How about this?

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>>1729644

And just from the top of my head on just what we learned, here is another round of 'how much can Fairchild fuck up in 48 hours'
1: Failing at the negotiations in general.
2: Trying to make us out to be a traitor.
3: Trying to set up a plan that would allow her to confiscate mechs from non military.
4: Trying to set us up with destroyed colonies for Lori.
5. Cabot and the duel.
6: Using a machine based on CCC's magnum opus and using it for said duel.
7: Trying to deny us our cabot fight by cheating.
8: Trying to use Marie as a back up for the duel with a circlet.
9: Thinking about using the circlets.
10: Human testing of the circlets on POWs.
11: Planning to use them to likely attack Auditorium and blaming it on us.
12: Being a bitch to all our wives.
13: Being a bitch to all our crews.
14: Being a bitch.
and 15: Destroying military property and furniture while in a tissy.

>>1729684
>Marie

Who?

>>1729647
Makoto's glares get my rocks off. Anyone else? Just me? Shit.

>>1729701
that paladin, the one Amos shot down. Instead of cabot, we were suppose to fight her.

>>1729684
*Tizzy

>>1729577
Hey Wong, how is the UJCIDF organized?

>>1729704
Nope, it's a major turn on for me too.

But not as much as her smiles.

>>1729745
As is? Fairchild is probably the highest ranking general at the moment thanks to SOUL shenanigans, but is still under the orders of the Chairman and the next War Marshal. How long that will last will be a better question. She is certainly lacking in the 'make people disappear' department and no ammount of media bull can cover the facts.

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“Sir Gaius! Are you alright? I recorded multiple chassis hits on my sensors.” Her voice is worried.

You mentally note that her sensors must have an awful lot of range to be following the fight that closely from this distance, “I'm fine, but I have information that we need to relay to the appropriate people before we leave the system, the sooner the better.”

“What information? Who do you need to give it to?” She doesn't sound shocked or sharp, just curious and calm.

You smile as the perfect person enters your mind, “The Pirate King. Unfortunately, not all of the prisoners are here, but the number of enemies is greater than we thought.”

“Hold on, entering landing maneuvers.” She interrupts you.

“...You can't talk while you're landing?” You tease her, it was second-nature for you. She's a stellar pilot, and has to be one to be a Paladin, but as a front-line close-quarters combatant you've developed a different sort of mobility than she has.

“S-shut up!” a stream of vengeful azure plasma creases the smoky air, hitting several yards away from your position.

“As my lady commands.” You bow floridly.

“Hmph. I hate reentry, this feels gross, my beautiful Engeler is covered in goo, and it has no...no style whatsoever.” She grumbles.

“You could have stayed in space.” You point out.

“And risk losing one of my best vassals?! Nonsense!” The Engeler lands with much more of a thud than your Swordfish. It's bigger and its fall is less controlled. It stands up, doing its best to scrub the remaining burning goo from its armor, “Ahhh! I HATE it! Gaius, clean me!”

[Continued]

>>1729765
>“Ahhh! I HATE it! Gaius, clean me!”

looood

>>1729765
>Gaius, clean me!
>Caesar's Naomi ptsd starts up again

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“Yeah, sure, but we have a bigger problem. A...certain faction in this System has a way to control people's minds, it's a sort of...reversed HMIS. There's a device, and when it's installed on your head, it makes you passively vulnerable to suggestion and apparently lets a controller dominate your actions, and General Fairchild.” You assume, “Is using it on the knights imprisoned here to create shock troops.”

For a moment, there's absolute, utter silence. Then the Engeler looks up at the sky, “You're sure?”

You nod.

“It explains the formation of units outside the base.” She remarks, the Engeler's far-seeing eyes focused on the distant, barely visible hillock that up close would be a mountain of walls and turrets, “They didn't look like the typical little Jupiter striders to me, the ones named after fish. Gaius, are you sure? This isn't just a rumor, or some local legend?”

“I've seen these machines myself.” You reply hotly, “They're absolutely real.”

She nods, “I'll contact the Duke. Let's hold here and await further instructions.”

You're both quiet for a minute, then the Engeler reaches up and pats the Swordfish on the back, “...We stay here and hold position. Our fighting is done.”

“But the prisoners...” You protest.

“This is an...” She sighs, “No, I can't say 'this is an Avalonian matter', you're one of us now. This is a matter for their commanders to deal with. Their responsibility. If anyone can do it, it's those two.” She looks up at two streaking points of light in the sky, “Besides, your strider is damaged. The Duke and the Duchess will do what needs to be done, and bring as many of our soldiers home as possible. I doubt they'll eject in their current state, so they'll have to dissect their striders properly. We wait here for one of our ships to land, to take us back to space.”

>[Argue]
>[Agree]

>>1729770
>>[Agree]

>>1729763
No, I mean more in terms of Military organization.

Does it go Regiment->Battalion->Company->Platoon->Squad?

>>1729770
>>[Agree]
Let the big boys handle it.

>>1729770

Does these crowns require a transmitter?

And does Caesar know this?

>>1729770
>>[Argue]
There is one thing to consider. These people require someone to control them. That means there is either a commander or that Warden we were told about who is giving them orders. If those were the first batch, they might try for more before they can arrive. We might not have to defeat all those hear, but find out where the controller is and force a surrender, if not cut off the means to harm the prisoners here.

>>1729770
>>[Argue]

>>1729770
>>[Agree]

>>1729770

>[Argue]

We can do what's "right", or we can do what honour demands.

While they fight the body, we can cut the head off the snake that did this to them.

>>1729770
>>[Argue]
>>1729784
This really. As much information as possible. The countess might be able to use her rifle to snipe the controller if we need to.

While the Duke and Duchess assault the front, we might be able to sneak in and disable the controller.

>>1729791
It's not really anti-intellectualism, in fact the dynamic education that taught Cesar how to learn about varied environments is arguably a far better environment than having to kow-tow to official positions on personal matters.

>>1729791

Being a Marxist isn't the same as being an intellectual. Besides, it's a staple of every left-wing regime that they round up the thinkers and execute them as soon as they stop being useful.

>>1729791
>"propaganda for the fashionable subversions of the era"
>Ah, the old right wing anti-intellectualism
Again, a bunch of people going 'give peace a chance' so close after a major fight for humanity's survival is a very bad thing to do in a Military Academy. It's not some san fransisco college with a safe space.

>>1729791
And hows Venezuela doing right now?

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>>1729818
WoW gold is worth more than their currency. Again.

>>1729794
Sneak in how?

>>1729801
Hey Wong, you said you were using Air Force ranks for the UJCIDF in general, right?

>>1729830
Kool-Aid the wall with our lance.

I mean.

Technically it is still sneaking in if you are too fast for them to react.

>>1729830

Generally speaking I use Army/Air Force type ranks, and Navy for Martians just to distinguish them.

UJCIDF commissioned officers go from Ensign to Lieutenant to Captain to Major to Colonel to General.

A tie closely broken by an Argue vote. Interesting.

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You sit there in silence, watching the two mecha descend. Eventually, you speak, “Can they really do it?”

“Of course. They're the best. Two of the four first-generation Paladins.” She says, a note of unconscious reverence in her voice, “It was always planned that there would be twelve, but four were originally created, and each trained two of the successive generation Paladins. At least...that was how it was supposed to work. Sir Hayward was supposed to train Count Ford, but early on he found him lacking in knightly virtues and refused to continue, so Count Ford finished his training under Belegor. It...created problems. A Paladin refusing the request of the Lady was unheard of at the time, but he was adamant and, as the Queen's lover, nothing much could be done about it. Count Ford never forgave him. The Duke supported Sir Hayward, and he and Duchess Carnegie nearly fought a duel over it. At the time, it was quite a scandal, but now it seems so small and petty.”

“Who would have won?” You ask, innocently.

It's amazing how body language and vocal tones can convey a scowl even from behind a blank metal faceplate, “I don't know. At one time, I would have said the Duchess for sure. Yet...at that time, I was just her student, I hadn't served with the Duke yet. I understand him a little better now, I think. He was a backup Paladin because he didn't want to go to war again, not because of any lack of martial talent.”

You both go back to watching. She glances over at you again, “Say, Gaius, why are Jovian striders named after fish, anyway?”

You start laughing, you can't help it. “It's just branding. Bahamut Corporation invests heavily in restoring the native species from Earth's oceans, it was...” You stop short of saying 'my father', “It was the dream of some of the company's founding members, I hear. Bucephalus Heavy Industries names theirs after horses.”

“...That's a pretty boring reason, it's really just a matter of style?” She sounds disappointed.

“Sometimes a name that isn't very frightening carries more weight. It's like gap moe without the moe.” That's a concept you learned from Captain Oda.

“Gap...moay?” She repeats, “What is that?”

“Nevermind.” You answer quickly, “Don't worry about it.” You look down at the Engeler's articulated hands, and something chilling abruptly strikes you, “Hey, Tabitha, where's your gun?”

[Continued]

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“My what?” She asks.

“You know, you were shooting earlier, where is it?” You question. You're sure a high-powered beam sniper cannon like that isn't easy to lose. It must be huge, she never carries it with her when overseeing drills.

She snickers, and holds up her arm, contours you took to be decorative within the metal igniting with light in the projection of your advanced sensor system, betraying the strength of the generators in her forearms as she displays an open port on her palm, “Don't make assumptions about weapons the Lady designed, my Engeler is never unarmed even if it isn't a show-off like the Anseis.”

You notice the same markings on the other arm, “You have two of them. Have you only been using one arm to hide your capabilities?”

The Engeler pats the Swordfish on the back, sitting on a rocky hillside beside it, “You're pretty sharp, Gaius. Unless it's a life-or-death situation, the Duke and I agreed that I'm not to go all out. The Engeler is good for more than just sniping.”

“It's nice to work with somebody clever.” You remark, thinking of Keith and the nonsense he causes.

“Thanks. You too.” She replies. It's a bit of a non-sequitor, but you don't call her out on it.

The silence stretches on, and finally, you can't stand it anymore. “Hey, Tabitha, you know...those transmitters probably have a central source, some kind of controller. If we can take that out, we win. It's much more safe than just beating them all up and hoping for the best.”

“How do we do that?” She doesn't immediately say no, which is encouraging.

“Well, either the Warden or whoever's running this whole operation is at the center of that base, well-defended, or they're running.” You muse, “Personally, I think they have to run. We have a battleship and aerial superiority, orbital bombardment is not out of the question. On top of that, only one of their ships is nearby, the one we wounded hasn't touched down anywhere near here. I suspect it's so it can serve as an escape route once the crew fixes the engines.”

“Oh, you noticed it listing?” She sounds rather deservedly smug.

“Good shooting, Tabitha.” You feed her ego.

“As expected of the head of the Roosevelt family.” She replies, barely holding back a giggle.

[Continued]

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“If we locate it, we can cut them off, all while following orders and staying out of the main battle.” You point out.

“Well said!” She agrees, standing up, “By any chance, do you think there's a secret way out of that base?”

You nod, the Swordfish standing up as well, “The base sits with its back against a hill, and...hold on...” You go into your recorded sensor data from the descent, “Yep, that hill is one toe of a large sub-region of badlands, full of canyons, cliffs, and natural crystal pillars. An escape tunnel leading into there would be extremely logical.”

“That matches my readings.” She confirmed, “Now, I don't like to flaunt that I'm older than you, but...I do have some experience hunting, and I noticed a few spots that seem especially salubrious as an escape route. Let's go, Gaius, we're hunti-...huh. Weird.” She looks skyward.

“What is?” You question.

She shakes her head, “A transport ship drifted into our range. When our ships ordered it to halt and identify itself, it was very slow to reply. Our people said its crew seemed to be stalling, but it never made planetfall and departed using its microgate projector just now.” She shrugs, “I'm sure I'm overthinking it and they were just doing some kind of illicit supply run to the colony, got spooked, and left. Onward!” The Engeler bounces lightly to its feet, and takes to the skies, and with a strange sense of forboding you follow it.

Game resumes tomorrow.

>>1729881
>transport ship leaving
FALSE FLAG INCOMING

>>1729881
Did they happen to get the name of that ship? May as well talk while we go hunting.

>>1729907

Duly noted for tomorrow.

>>1729894

Presumably the troops the soldier mentioned weren't on it and already left before you arrived if that's what you mean.

>>1729918
I like to think Caesar is genre savvy enough to know when the cutscene info is important. No getting away with using mind controlled pawns Fairchild.

By the way, it still blows my mind how absurdly different Naomi Heim is from how she was originally going to be.

>>1729946
Do tell

>>1729946
Wait, how was she originally? Was she to be demure? Lady like?

>>1729948
>>1729950

Originally she was a blind, frail, albino, twelve-year-old prodigy whose mech excelled at crowd control and burst attacks. She would have used Ilyasviel Einzbern as a character portrait. She also wasn't a clone of the Lady, but was instead related to the L-Strain and Project Neverland.

By the time she actually showed up in the quest, though, she'd been changed into the Naomi you know. It was actually foreshadowed the very first time you see Naomi. Brown elf girls.

>>1729963
What made you change her?

>>1729963
>Ilyasviel Einzbern
wait.. does that mean, in some weird way, Caesar managed to get the fabled Ilyas route?

>>1729966

Caesar. Plus, I just realized I liked the other idea I had of her better. Plus I couldn't actually see Stern letting a child that young fight.

>>1729967

Yes.

>>1729985
Stern no, but I can see Fairchild doing it as a trial run.

>>1729894
More likely it dropped something off.

Probably something terrible.

Something to blow up the moon.

>>1729963
How do you fly a mech blind?

>>1730166
Radar.

>>1730221
But you cant read the radar.

>>1730226
Use beeps. Like what they have for crosswalks.

Or reverse HMIS to feed the radar signal directly into the brain.

>>1730291
But like what sort of beeps would you use to translate all the shit happening in front of you?

>>1730307
Different tones for different targets, volume dependent on distance, and verbal warnings of missile locks and shit.

As an aside, your mech would be pretty much unstealable.

>>1730321
>>1730307

True 360 surround sound BTW to indicate distance.

Or maybe some sort of pseudo sonar chamber for echo-location. It's space robots bitch, I don't gotta explain shit.

Not sure echo location works in space.

>>1730326
That's why I used the word "pseudo" where it uses the sensor data to create a static sound scape similar to how sonar works.

But generated from within the cockpit itself.

>>1730166
Cybernetic implant that feeds mech sensor data directly into your brain.

Which sounds better, Regiment or Brigade?

75th Mobile Armor Regiment or 75th Mobile Armor Brigade?

In terms of ranks, which sounds better, Lieutenant Colonel or Commandant?

>>1730411
Reichmarshall

>>1730411
Or Generalleutnant

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>>1730416
Making a Lieutenant Colonel equal to the Commander of the entire Army seems a bit much.

>>1730420
That's better.

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>>1730460
It's a better title though.

>>1730623
It also wasn't one of the options.

What does a wheel kick even do besides give you a penalty to attacking?

Can Roarke use Dismember in hand to hand combat?

>>1730721
I guess it lets you attempt to disarm someone if your own arms got cut off.

>>1730721
does more damage and can disarm someone than a normal kick.
>>1730723
Yes, you can always disarm if they are the same size or smaller. It just loses value the higher up you are... though, if you are facing someone with command armor it can go through that too.

>>1730731
Firstly, did you mean Crescent Kick? Because I asked about Wheel Kick which is Torso only. It does more damage, but that's not really the best indicator of ability.

Secondly, I was wondering if Roarke personally could dismember someone, not the Kaiser.

>>1730747
I'm going to go out on a limb and say he cant since people dont come in the sizes listed on the dismemberment chart.

>>1730752
But Body Type does vary and that's a fairly standard indicator of strength and toughness. Subtract your opponent's body type from your body type and, if it's a positive number, deal that many hits of damage to the limb in question.

>>1730755
But dismemberment is dependant on the size of one mechs arms vs whatever its pulling off, whereas people are the same all over. I dont see the need for it anyway since hand to hand fighting is already lethal as fuck and pulling peoples arms and legs off is a bit much.

>>1730762
People being the same all over just means that they're of a standardized servo size.

And ripping a guy's arm off is badass. Imagine Meridian's face.

>>1730762
I mean if we do burn a point of luck we do a kill of damage which is more than enough to explode whatever body part we hit.

>>1730765
Yeah but it would suddenly mean every tough guy out there is suddenly capable of pulling the heads off people who are slightly less tough then them.
>>1730767
Thats punching though.

>>1730767
and dismember is a -2 anyways so if we are going to take the penalty, might as well do it in a way that makes sure they are dead.

>>1730772
>>1730770
Yea not really any point to dismember in CQC. Master Asia was so right about us having the shock gauntlets as a non lethal way considering how good we are now.

I've been thinking up odd little Special abilities in the vein of Ave Caesar.

What do you guys think of "When wielding a melee weapon in each hand you can make an attack with both as one action" as a Dual-wielding Melee Weapons ability? Yes, it would stack with Quick. I'm not sure how it would work with foot blades.

>>1730843
Isnt that just linked weapons?

Two Questions:

Do non-active Shields need to be limb mounted?

Can Energy Shields be mated with other things?

>>1730906
No, it's like Quick, but only when you have two weapons.

>>1730910
Shields can be mounted anywhere.

Energy Shields can be mated. Technically, they count as Weapons and even if they didn't, other systems can be mated.

>>1730914
But would you end up doing the same amount of attacks as with linked melee weapons?

>>1730925
No. You would do two attacks. Linked Melee Weapons only do one attack, you just hit with all the linked weapons.

If you had linked Melee Weapons and this ability, you would be attacking twice and hitting with both weapons on each attack.

>>1730935
Seems a bit much. Maybe have it or linked?

>>1730943
It's supposed to be one of the more powerful abilities. Stronger than Ave Caesar but weaker than Void Fist.

A different one I was thinking about was "Penalties for carrying out Maneuvers are reduced by 2" which is more versatile than Ave Caesar but not necessarily as powerful. The Weapon Charge as depicted in the third book would be done at a -1.

>>1730943
For linked melee weapons you need to have Quick on all the weapons in order to attack twice in one action with all of them, right?

>>1730974
I presume so. That said I was fairly sure you needed to have identical weapons to link them in the first place until Wong rolled out Anubis.

>>1730978
Nope, rules say you can link whatever. The Flowerhorn had normal beam sabers linked with variable beam Weapons.

>>1730984
Well shit. Probably could have done something with that.

>>1730985
Yeah, I know that feeling. I wish I hadn't misunderstood the rules for Weapon Mounts. Also wish I'd read the rules for Weapon Splitting.

Incidentally, energy shields can be placed in Weapon Mounts, right? Would it count as weapon splitting if you split the spaces between two torso weapon mounts? It's still on one servo.

>>1730984
>rules say you can link whatever
Not quite whatever, the weapons have to be of identical *type* (EMW and EMW, missile and missile, energy pool and energy pool etc). You also can't link attack factor EMWs. I was so pleased with myself for coming up with a scheme that used a small cheap AF EMW linked to a way bigger one to get free attacks with it on the cheap until I was sunk after noticing that detail.

>>1730990
>energy shields can be placed in Weapon Mounts, right?
I *think* they can be handheld, so probably.

>Would it count as weapon splitting if you split the spaces between two torso weapon mounts
As written it would count as 2-handing.

>>1731004
Helps with some ideas I had. The one range weapon type uses a sort of energy packpack to power the beam sniper cannon. With a medium or heavy striker, that saves on cp.

since we're talking about mechanics abuse, I'd been playing around with the idea of mating together a physical and beam melee weapon. Kind of like how the Monado from Xenoblade Chronicles works.

not quite sure how exactly it wold work out, though. Maybe the Energy blade for general purpose destruction, and the physical blade could have a disruptor coating for beam shields? Or the Energy blade is an extremely powerful Hyper weapon, but only lasts one turn.

>>1731004
You're allowed to Two-hand energy Weapons so I guess that works out.

Can you two-hand something with a normal hand and a weapon mount on the same arm?

>>1731018
I can see it working. You would have to declare what mode it's in, obviously, but that could be pretty cool.

Awfully fragile though but that's the price you pay.

>>1731032
Kinda, unless you go with plan A and do most of the parrying with the EMW. with Plan B, yeah, you'd want to avoid parrying with the physical blade or risk destroying the whole thing.

>>1731018
I mean, at the end of the day it's still two weapons glued together to save a bit on space, it doesn't really seem like abuse. It would also be super fragile because it'd have the EMW's structural kills.

In a similar vein I once used a mated shield and melee weapon to fluff a specially built sword made of gamma alloy that could be used to parry ranged attacks (of course, parrying with the weapon part would still degrade it, but you could fluff that as it chipping the edge or something).

>>1731023
I came up with a design some threads ago that did exactly this and it caused an argument over its viability, I think because people continually misunderstood how mounts worked. There's nothing rule-wise preventing it (though there ALSO ain't no rule against just having multiple hands/manipulators in the same servo for that purpose, and a shitty enough hand works out cheaper than a mount).

>>1731048
Huh, I thought it said that you could only attach one hand to an arm servo.

Incidentally, you could have handy Weapons mounted on other servos to hold more than arms are capable of.

>>1731059
I don't think that's ever actually specified anywhere. All it says on the subject is that handy melee weapons may function 'like' hands (which incidentally suggests that any handy weapon differing from the base hand profile isn't technically a hand and could be mounted on locations other than arms to create things like prehensile talons or little weapon armatures and stuff), and that handy melee weapons may not themselves be handheld.

By the way, something else nobody ever seems to realise about weapon mounts is that they're a really good way to lose whatever you put in them due to what I like to think of as the "Gundam Build Fighters Rule" (because it makes it quit likely you'll get your weapons shot off before taking actual structural damage).

>When a servo carrying a mounted weapon is hit, the defender must make an average Luck roll (Difficulty 15). If the roll succeeds, the attack does indeed hit the servo. If the roll fails, the attack hits the mounted weapon and does damage to it as normal - since Mounted weapons are treated as being handheld they DO NOT get the armor protection of the servo they are mounted upon.

So in other words, if that servo is hit, even with the maximum luck you have at best 60% odds of not taking a hit to that weapon and probably losing it because it has no armour. If you have less luck the probability can become a certainty.

>>1731132
In that case, wouldn't hands be one of the most lost components of a mech?

>>1731175
Hands not a weapon mount.

>>1731176
Ah, right. I was interpreting mounted weapons as "all weapons affixed to a servo."

Wouldn't it actually be a good idea to put a shield in a Weapon Mount then? Even if you fail the parry, you have a decent chance of getting your shield in the way.

>>1731185
I think it would probably take regular damage then. The difference between hitting a weapon and parrying an attack with it.

>>1731185
...son of a bitch, you're probably right. It's fuckin' stupid, but it I think it technically works under the rules (though only if the servo they hit was the one that had the shield on it to begin with).

>>1731185
Shields have their own mounts, IIRC.

plus for your idea to work, they'd need to hit the mounted servo in the first place, and most shields will be on servos you wouldn't mind losing anyway.

>>1731200
Thing is, weapons have kill values that are subbed in for shield SP when making a parry. Shield, on the other hand, ONLY have SP.

>>1731213
Yeah, but he's right about that. Your weapon gets attacked and it takes full damage, parry with it and it only takes 1 Kill. I don't see why it would be different for shields just because they have kills with a different name and using this to get an extra parry is very clearly not intended.

>>1731210
Plus it could easily end up in a situation where you fail a parry roll, and still end up with your shield getting hit.

>>1731200
Treating it like ablative armor then? Not a fan of that from a verisimilitude POV but it works mechanically.

>>1731208
I mean, it's just a bit of a bonus then.

>>1731210
>>1731225

You could just stick a Superlight shield on your torso or head and just let it take a hit every now and again. You don't need to actually parry with it.

... Actually, that makes more sense than straight up ignoring the shield when the servo in question gets hit.

If the arm holding the shield was hit, would it take damage while ignoring the shield entirely?

>>1731234
>If the arm holding the shield was hit, would it take damage while ignoring the shield entirely
Yes, the presumption is that the mech was unable to interpose the shield and the attack strikes the exposed arm.

>>1731234
>If the arm holding the shield was hit, would it take damage while ignoring the shield entirely?
Well yeah, you avoided the shield and hit the arm.

>>1731224
Because shields are made of armour (which ablates at -1SP per attack) and weapons are not, so they just have regular structure.

>>1731243
>>1731244
Eh, I guess.

Overall, it's still a lot less efficient that just buying command armor.

>>1731258
It's something you might as well do if you were taking a shield anyway though.

(It's still dumb and so is the rule that birthed it and any GM with sense would ditch it because of how badly it disincentives using mounts as intended)

>>1731248
I don't see how that makes a difference. You can still target shields with a called shot, so do those attacks only do 1 damage if you beat their dodge and parry?

It's still clearly an exploit anyway, so I guess this argument is pointless.

>>1731265
Yeah, it seems like a pretty dumb rule.

>>1731273
If you target a shield and the opponent parries with that shield, is it an automatic hit?

>>1731278
No because you parried it.

>>1731278
I assume it parrying in that situation would be the difference between deflecting the attack with the shield and the attacker getting a solid hit on it.

>>1731282
>>1731283

Is Targeting a Shield the same as Targeting a Weapon? If so, where are the rules regarding the amount of damage it takes?

>>1731293
If you hit a weapon it takes normal kills of damage if targetted. If you parry, it is just 1 kill of damage. same applies to shields. It's the difference between using the shield to deflect a shot or having it skim compared for it taking it right in the center of mass and crumpling it.

>>1731293
There are none. For some reason the devs never envisioned anyone deliberately targeting the blocks of armour most sane people want to avoid hitting because there's no benefit to doing so. There are rules for targeting the shield mount, but that's it.

>>1731273
Upon some thought I'm fairly sure that even a called attack on a shief would functionally work out the same as a parry. The whole point of a parry is that you interpose your shield because it's basically just one big slab of amour and you want them to hit it because it can take hits better than servos can.

>>1731330
Again, weapons are stated to have a 'lightly armored housing' that affords them their kill value and which is clearly distinct from actual ablative armour, which can be punched through with sufficient force, but never compromised structurally by more thank 1SP per hit.

>>1731338
>Again, weapons are stated to have a 'lightly armored housing' that affords them their kill value
Gonna need to see where thats written mate.

>>1731338
Oh, wait got that around, ablative armour is the stuff that's functionally identical to kills, whereas standard (or better) armour is subject to staged penetration instead.

>>1730957

What are these for?

>>1731355
My own use. Seeing as these are the only people around here who discuss MZ regularly, I decided to ask in thread.

>>1731132

Where the dickens is that rule?

By the way, this whole discussion is why my biggest point of advice for Mekton is NEVER LET PLAYERS BUILD THEIR OWN MECHA. I hear "but it works under RAW" and I get the urge to start smiting.

>>1731366

Just out of curiosity, what are you using them for? I've been handing out these bullshit, not-at-all-balanced abilities for completing romances, after all, they're not inherent to the pilot.

>>1731376
Tis why you have to step in when people get nuts. As is stated many times, Mekton is a hot mess that requires the DM to reign in the dumb. Mind you, I am trying to make a 15k artillery piece for our medium strikers, and a 20k one for our heavies out of fun, so my value on the subject may vary.

>>1731376
It's because they left so much open to GM discretion/just didn't say anything to let the GM deal with it. I don't think it would be as bad if you were having a regular game instead of one over 4chan; you could just hold a mech building session and the GM could yay or nay anything the players ask about.

I suppose just going page by page and writing down how you personally handle open/poorly defined rules would work too. I'm sure that wouldn't drive people to suicide.

My personal theory is that they used this to reduce the amount of words in the books by a couple hundred or thousand and thus reduce the amount of pages and manufacturing cost. I'm paranoid and think all companies are completely soulless machines that only care about numbers though. Maybe they felt making the book feel so incomplete was a good idea.

>>1731386
A quest I may or may not run in the future. The Abilities in this case are things the players would be able to earn by training or meeting certain requirements. Like having a 10 in Mecha Melee and studying under this master swordsman would allow you to parry projectiles.

I guess romance could be one of the conditions to complete but I wasn't planning on it.

>>1731344
Well, clearly I'm going crazy, because I can't find it. Maybe I read it in a thread somewhere a long the line. Regardless, the point is moot, a shield is just an additional layer of armour and functions like all other armour, including staged penetration (though I guess you could make an ablative shield on the cheap that actually did take damage that way).

>>1731376
Targeting a shield isn't really part of building though. Speaking of which, how would you handle that?

>>1731370
Under 'Weapon Mounts'.

It's fucking dumb though, please don't use it.

Also, a clarification on the difference between Linked and Quick. Quick gives you an extra ROLLED attack per Action. So, if normally I roll twice to attack during my turn (once per Action), and pick up a Quick weapon, I now get to roll twice to attack per Action, for a total of four per turn if I do nothing with my Actions but attack. Linked weapons mean a successful hit with one hits with both. I houserule it as "if the other weapon has enough Accuracy to hit with that roll too", to avoid someone making a tiny high-WA weapon and linking it with an inaccurate but highly damaging weapon. There's no extra roll, no extra ATTACK, but you get an extra HIT per successful attack (more if you have more than one weapon linked to the striking one, like the Flowerhorn has). So, the Knuckle Kaiser's fists are both Quick and Linked. That means it gets four attack rolls per turn, and each successful hit counts as two. Eight hits maximum, effectively.

>>1731366

In light of this, with your special ability, a pilot using Quick Linked weapons would roll eight times, each counting double on a successful hit. Sixteen hits maximum. Honestly, I'd say that's far more powerful than anything I've included in this game and borders on broken-level bullshit even if you're using a really weak melee weapon.

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>>1731414
>Honestly, I'd say that's far more powerful than anything I've included in this game and borders on broken-level bullshit even if you're using a really weak melee weapon.
So in other words, pic related?

>>1731410

I'd aim for the limb it's on instead. If you want to make a called shot at the shield, I suppose it would work functionally identically to a parry, but I've never thought about it because it's going to be a dumb idea usually. I'd give it the same penalty as aiming for any major subsystem.

>>1731413

Fear not, I have no intention of using it.

>>1731414
Say, what's your take on Melee Crosslinks? Because melee weapons can target locations at will anyway, so a crosslink actually seems like a step down from a regular link because it forces you to hit one location, and the only reason this would make sense (besides 'the devs copy-pasted the bit about cross-link costs at the bottom of each paragraph and neglected to realise the redundancy) was if the linked attack had to roll randomly even though it was mele

>>1731419

We already do that. Sixteen hits is just...nah.

>>1731421

Oh, I think I answered this already. I assume most linked melee weapons are cross-linked. If they aren't, the second hit is to a random location and rolled for.